Federal election 2022 edging to photo finish

Anthony Albanese will lead a two-day, five-state blitz of 20 marginal seats as he attempts to hold off a late swing to the Coalition.

Kristina Keneally, left, Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Anthony Albanese will lead a two-day, five-state blitz of 20 marginal seats as Labor attempts to hold off a late swing to the government which Coalition campaigners ­believe has tightened the election race in key battlegrounds.

With confidence increasing in Coalition ranks that Scott Morrison is making inroads in outer-suburban seats, the Opposition Leader on Wednesday night flew into western Sydney to the safe Labor seat of Fowler to defend star candidate Kristina Keneally, who is facing a strong challenge from independent Dai Le.

Ms Keneally has failed to ­secure preferences ahead of Ms Le from any party except the Greens, sparking suggestions she will fail to hold the seat unless she can lift her primary vote from 42 per cent suggested in some polls to the mid-40s.

Senior Coalition sources said they expected Ms Keneally to hold the seat, but with the Liberal Party running “dead”, the prospect of Ms Le running second in the contest could change the game. If the Liberal candidate were to run third behind Ms Le, then preferences from conservative minor parties could rob Labor of the seat.

Addressing an Italian-Australian event at Club Marconi in Sydney’s Bossley Park, Mr Albanese accused the Coalition of making fun of his Italian surname with its campaign advertisement slogan “it won’t be easy under Albanese’’.

“My opponents think it’s still OK to make fun of someone’s name in their advertising,’’ Mr ­Albanese said. “I am proud to be the first candidate to be putting themselves forward to be prime minister of this nation with a non-Anglo-Celtic surname.’’

The Prime Minister will also be campaigning in Sydney on Thursday as the government defends the under-threat seats of Reid and Bennelong and targets another of Labor’s star candidates, Andrew Charlton in Parramatta.

Scott Morrison takes a tumble during a soccer club training session in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon on Wednesday. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Morrison is expected to visit up to 10 seats in the next two days and is likely to seize on unemployment figures to be released on Thursday that are expected to show the jobless rate has fallen below 4 per cent for the first time since the 1970s.

In the last week of the election race, the Prime Minister will have visited all states and territories with the exception of the ACT.

Mr Morrison’s wife, Jenny, who joined him for the Coalition ­campaign launch in Brisbane on Sunday and has been travelling with him since, will continue to ­accompany her husband on the hustings until the polls close.

After wages growth disappointed again despite labour shortages, lifting from 2.3 per cent to 2.4 per cent over the year to March despite inflation of 5.1 per cent, the Prime Minister said ­“inflation is the challenge”. He warned oil prices, wars in Europe, pandemic-related disruptions to supply chains and shutdowns in China would continue to affect the Australian economy irrespective of who won the election.

Delivering an address at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne on Wednesday, Mr Morrison said Saturday’s election was a “very serious choice” between a Labor leader who “doesn’t understand the economy” and himself, who did.

“It’s a serious choice that Australians have this weekend,” he said. “A very serious choice with profound implications.”

Mr Morrison acknowledged his government hadn’t “been perfect”, but said he and his team had taken challenges in their stride and “got on with it”.

Mr Albanese will now visit NSW and Queensland on Thursday, missing the unveiling of his policy costings in Canberra, which will be handed down by Treasury spokesman Jim ­Chalmers and finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher.

The Australian understands Mr Albanese will then visit South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria on Friday as he seeks to avoid a ­repeat of 2019 when Bill Shorten appeared to halt his campaign following the death of former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke.

Labor’s “final sprint to a better future” will also include senior frontbenchers Richard Marles, Jason Clare, Tanya Plibersek, Penny Wong and Dr Chalmers in the 20 targeted Liberal seats over the final 48 hours of the campaign. In NSW, the ALP frontbench team will campaign in the seats of Reid, Bennelong, Robertson and Banks, while the Queensland seats visited will include Brisbane, Leichhardt, Dickson, Longman and Ryan.

The South Australian seats of Boothby and Sturt will also be targeted, along with the Tasmanian electorates of Bass and Braddon.

In Melbourne, the Labor campaign will focus on Chisholm, Higgins, Casey and Deakin, while Senator Wong will hit the hustings in the Perth seats of Swan, Pearce and Hasluck.

Mr Albanese’s visit to Fowler on Wednesday night came ­despite Labor’s 14 per cent margin. A poll this week suggested Ms ­Keneally’s primary vote had collapsed 13 points to 42 per cent while support for Ms Le stood at 38 per cent, making the seat too close to call.

Senator Keneally, a former NSW premier, has only recently moved to the western Sydney seat from her northern beaches residence on Scotland Island. She was parachuted in to the electorate ahead of local Vietnamese lawyer Tu Le, who was the preferred pick of the well-liked outgoing local Labor member Chris Hayes.

At Club Marconi, Ms Keneally said on Wednesday that she was not taking the seat for granted. She also denied Mr Albanese ­attending her electorate was a sign she was in trouble.

“This is a national event that has been planned by the Italian Australian community to welcome what they hope will be the first Italian Australian prime minister,” Ms Keneally said. ­Despite losing in the contest for the seat of Bennelong ahead of the last election, Ms Keneally said she was a good choice to represent Fowler given she is a senior member of federal Labor and a former premier.

“Chris (Hayes) is a good friend of mine. And he’s done a great job, she said. “Upon his retirement, there’s a great opportunity to give Fowler something they’ve never had before, which is a senior minister representing them in the House of Representatives.”

Mr Morrison is also planning to pick up his pace in the dying days of the campaign by visiting 10 seats as he throws everything at pulling off a second ‘miracle’ win.

Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare said the campaign was in the “final sprint”.

“Australians have just a few more days to make a choice ­between more of the same with Mr Morrison, or a better future with Labor,” Mr Clare said.